


Edelweiss (Working Title)

by Ally502



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Injury, M/M, No smut who do you take me for smh, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Time Travel, Time Travelling Karl Jacobs, Web Series: Tales from the SMP, ao3 tags my abhorred
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-24 11:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30071394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ally502/pseuds/Ally502
Summary: “When will I be home? I don’t know.In the mountains, in the rainy nightThe autumn lake is flooded.Someday we will be back together again.We will sit in the candlelight by the west window,And I will tell you how I remembered youTonight on the stormy mountain.”— Li Shangyin “When Will I Be Home?”(tr. by Kenneth Rexroth)
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Alexis | Quackity/Sapnap, Karlnapity - Relationship
Kudos: 10





	Edelweiss (Working Title)

Home is a smoldering crater in the ground.  
It’s the glint of light on the grooves of a music disc; held between fingers that tremble ever so slightly like the leaves of a lemon tree.

Love was the sweep of broken glass off a stone floor. Was netherite glowing in the dark. Was a smirk over a shoulder walking away.

The path into Kinoko Kingdom is a dusty one, ridden by stolen horses and immortalized with boot prints. Dawn rises later for the inhabitants of the only house built directly into the mountain, though only one of them is unaware of this fact. Even in sleep, the couple has learned that nothing will stop Quackity from getting up first. Wrapping around him and pulling him close, grabbing his wrist before he can leave to get dressed- he always finds a way out of their cozy pile, out of their embrace, and into the frigid, unforgiving house.

That stark, unwelcoming kitchen, built with logs they felled themselves, and stone they paid someone off to mine.  
The chests, the icebox, stocked full of food made with hatred and loathing. And he sits back in that uncomfortable hardback dining chair, without its hand sewn cushions (that are in the laundry pile).  
How could that poor soul even bear it, quietly smiling to himself at the framed photos covering the wall —when he could be in the arms of those very same men in the photographs— only a doorway away?

Their poor, poor, husband. A lunch of leftover green chicken tamales knocks against his leg as he walks that dusty path out of Kinoko Kingdom, the morning sun unthawing the wildflowers along the fence; dedicating the new day a blank canvas for mankind to paint.

“Hey, Karl! What’s up?”

The sun is directly overhead, and Ranboo would never admit it, but he’s sweating bullets under his suit. He doesn’t know how Karl stands it - in patchwork overalls and a sun hat, elbows deep in cherry tomatoes. 

Maybe it’s all the time he’s spent in snow biomes these past couple years… 

Karl waves him over. Ranboo unlatches the gate and trudges up the hill. 

Karl gives him a scrutinizing look. “Are you alright?” 

“Yeah, yeah, it’s just,” His skin itches, and a wave of heat ripples through his body. He tries to reassure, “I just,” then gives up and sighs. “I would… like to… go inside for a minute.” 

“Oh, sure. Go right in- I’ll be there in a second.” Karl smiles and claps him on the shoulder. 

It’s not much cooler inside than it is outside, but all the windows are open and every few minutes a strong wind blows through and shifts the pile of papers on the kitchen counter.  
Ranboo tugs at his collar, heterochromic eyes flicking around the room. He was there the day this house was built. Hell, he was there for Karl, Sapnap, and Quackity’s wedding. He was… they all were… L’Manberg… 

Karl returns five minutes later, hanging up his sun hat on the hook next to the door.  
He’s struck dumb at the sight of Ranboo passed out on his couch, his suit jacket dropped hastily onto the floor, first couple buttons of his white dress shirt undone and sleeves rolled up to his elbows. 

He’s not sure if Tubbo sees Ranboo this vulnerable that often; Ranboo has always been someone who holds his cards close to his chest. He must be really comfortable here or…

On second look, Ranboo’s black and white skin looks patchy. And his breathing rattles even from where Karl stands a few feet away. 

He knows better than to attempt to cool him down with a cold washcloth.  
After checking the windows and using a piece of paper to fan the Enderman off, he pulls up comms and sends a quick message. 

_You whisper to Tubbo_: come get your mans_

_Tubbo_ whispers to you: what happen_

Tubbo kicks the screen door open, nearly leaving a hoof sized dent, just as Ranboo is awake and buttoning his shirt back up.  
Karl is about to say something along the lines of “Pardon,” but is shoved bodily out of the way by a husband who worried himself to death the entire 20 minute walk over. Karl understands the feeling well, and leaves them to it. 

“Hey! Are you okay big man?” Tubbo sits down, taking note of the half full glass of water on the dining table and the awake yet half-dazed look in his husband’s eyes. “Ranboo,” he presses, “hey, look at me.” Ranboo cradles his head in one hand, but follows the request. It’s one of those moments when his tongue feels stuck and he hopes Tubbo can understand his intentions even when he’s silent. Most of the time Tubbo doesn’t, but he remains by Ranboo’s side anyways, of course. 

Tubbo pats his arm, saying, “Here, Ranboo, let’s walk back to Snowchester. Micheal’s actually been learning a song for you on the ukulele- wait I’m not supposed to tell you that, shit…” It earns a smirk, and that’s what brings Ranboo back to reality a bit.  
Soon they’re both laughing, and Tubbo hopes Ranboo will remember that he told him to pretend he didn’t hear.  
Recovering from an Enderwalk passed out in the snow, or the beginnings of a heatstroke in Kinoko Kingdom, it’s the same principle. Striking a perfect temperature balance for Ranboo? Impossible. Tubbo guides him home, their arms as intertwined as their height difference can allow. 

Sapnap finds an Ender pearl inbetween the couch cushions that evening. Instead of the green and black spiral they’re used to, it’s deep purple with flecks of red. Karl jokes that maybe they should bury it in the yard and do a little dance and see if it grows a Ranboo tree. 

The Ender pearl goes onto the living room shelf, rolled behind a snow globe of El Rapids. 

When Sam helped them design the floor plan for their house, a week before their wedding day, it was something they had all considered of utmost importance, more than the guest rooms in the attic, or the large window onto the garden from their dining table:  
A row of shelving built into the right corner of their living room, with hope that a day would come when they felt secure enough that they could afford to be sentimental.

**Author's Note:**

> Updates to come later this week! ~


End file.
